


A Glimpse of Something More

by savanting



Series: Kashimalin's 50 Kisses Challenge [34]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy, The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Advice, Age Difference, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Bar/Pub, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Coming of Age, F/M, Farm Boy Luke Skywalker, I Will Go Down With This Ship, One Shot, Sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-29
Updated: 2020-12-29
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:07:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28394358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/savanting/pseuds/savanting
Summary: Modern AU: Luke Skywalker thought he was just going to spend his birthday getting hammered with his best friends, but a cool biker chick catches his eye at the end of the bar... One-Shot.[Prompt 8. Laying a gentle kiss to the back of the other's hand.]Using Kashimalin's 50 kisses prompt list: https://www.google.com/amp/s/kashimalin-fanfiction.tumblr.com/post/178524845380/50-kiss-prompts/amp
Relationships: Anakin Skywalker & Luke Skywalker, Biggs Darklighter & Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa & Luke Skywalker, Luke Skywalker & Ahsoka Tano, Luke Skywalker & Han Solo, Luke Skywalker/Ahsoka Tano, Mara Jade & Luke Skywalker, Wedge Antilles & Luke Skywalker
Series: Kashimalin's 50 Kisses Challenge [34]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2023708
Comments: 3
Kudos: 16





	A Glimpse of Something More

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own any _Star Wars_ property.
> 
> *strains of "White Flag" by Dido begin to play in the background*
> 
> I hope you guys enjoy how I "modernized" this alternate universe to make Star Wars fans go, "Aha!" at certain points. This fic is probably best enjoyed if you imagine Farm Boy!Luke (of _New Hope_ fame) as the protagonist rather than Jedi!Luke (as seen in _Return of the Jedi_ and other media). Maybe I should be sorry to pair him with Ahsoka even in an alternate universe, but that is tea for another day. Thanks to @Five_seas for indulging me with this pairing suggestion for our little project. And to you, dear reader, I hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoyed writing it.
> 
> Link to the original kiss prompt list: https://www.google.com/amp/s/kashimalin-fanfiction.tumblr.com/post/178524845380/50-kiss-prompts/amp

Jabba’s was insanely crowded for a Thursday night, and Luke found he was drinking more than usual just to keep the edge off. At least he wasn’t drinking the hard stuff like Han and Biggs were as if there were some kind of unspoken competition between them.

“Tell me again why your sister didn’t deign to grace us with her presence tonight,” Han said, his glass of Imperial beer already half-full despite the fact that he had just filled up from the pitcher for the table. Small mercies, Luke supposed, since Han had yet to grab another shot from the bar.

Luke just rolled his eyes at Han’s comment. As the night wore on and Han grew more inebriated, Luke’s sister was coming up more and more as a topic of conversation. “She had tickets to see that new musical _Alderaan_ with her friends,” he said, trying not to sound annoyed because this was the third time he had to explain why Leia hadn’t come out for birthday cocktails. _Besides, why would she want to hang out with a bunch of losers from the auto shop?_

“Oh, right. Those uppity pals of hers.” Han shook his head. “Is she still working at that casino? The Calrissian?”

 _Yes, for the fiftieth time, yes!_ But Luke kept his commentary to himself. “It’s just a part-time job so she can get through school,” he said. “Dad doesn’t make the same kind of money he used to since he quit working for old man Palpatine.”

“Palpatine’s an asshole,” Biggs said from across the table. “Did he really expect your dad to represent a low-life like that Maul guy?”

Luke held back a sigh. Why were people always drawn to drama? “Dad did the right thing,” he said, “but even doing the right thing can have consequences.”

“Hear, hear!” Han said, pitching up his glass into the air without preamble. Luke couldn’t help but feel embarrassed, hoping that no one else in the bar was paying much attention to his friend.

After swallowing a gulp of beer, Han held up his fist in the air. “Now who wants to hear some music? I’m thinking we gotta play the X-Wings in honor of Lukey here!”

Still looking around self-consciously to make sure Han wasn’t being _too_ noticeable - and disruptive - Luke found his gaze snag on a woman standing at the far end of the room where the bar counter was. She had long white hair with blue streaks, but that wasn’t the most astonishing thing about her. Her bare tan arms bore whirling streaks of white that reminded Luke of the days when Leia had dabbled in painting and showed him art books full of sweeping tattoo designs.

“Luke?”

He turned his head to see Wedge grinning at him, mischief in his friend’s eyes. “Uh, yeah?”

Biggs leaned over and clapped Luke on the back. “If you want to make your escape from Han, now’s the time to do it. Make haste, make haste!”

Luke’s eyes swiveled between his friends and the thought of the woman by the bar, all alone. “Guys, I don’t know-”

“Go on,” Wedge said, giving Luke a playful shove in the back. “We got this.”

Luke couldn’t help smiling in relief - and a semblance of gratitude. Then, before he could think better of it, he made his way through the crowd.

The woman glanced up just as he was walking toward her, and he could see the moment she decided to put her guard up, from the way her expression steeled. The closer he got, the more he realized he was way out of his depths: she was older than him, at least more than he had assumed she was, and he knew somehow that any pick-up line he threw her way would be met with only frost. All he could think was that he was already regretting coming over, and he hadn’t even said a word any which way.

And at that moment, of course, the X-Wings’ “The Force Between Us” had to come blasting out of the jukebox’s speakers like an embarrassingly cosmic disaster.

Luke wished he could go find a rock to hide under, stat.

But to his surprise, the woman’s lips twitched. Funny, she hadn’t struck him as someone with a great sense of humor. “You get your friends to play that for you?” she asked, gesturing with her short glass towards the place where Han was now dancing drunkenly like he was a one-person party.

Luke tried not to cringe, but he found himself smiling in spite of himself. He rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. “I swear I did _not_ ask them to play that song,” he said. Already he felt like a kid trying to play adult games he had no business playing.

The woman’s expression warmed - a tiny bit, at least. “I’m surprised kids like you would know that song. It’s probably older than you are.”

Luke felt the jab at his age but tried to ignore it. He settled for leaning against the counter, trying to pretend that he had just come up to wait for a drink until the bartender was free. “My parents danced to this at their wedding,” he said, realizing only afterward how he was tripping over his words in a rush of verbal vomit. No wonder none of the girls at Coruscant Community took him seriously.

But the woman seemed interested, even if she was only feigning the attention for his poor ego’s benefit. “I’m more of a “World Between Worlds” kind of girl,” she said, “but this song’s not bad.”

Luke felt relieved, much more than he probably should have from a slight comment like that. But at least it was an opening for some conversation. She was at least giving him that. “So, uh, are you new to the area?” _I haven’t seen you here before, and I would remember a face like yours._ But he couldn’t say that - could he?

“Just passing through,” the woman said. “I’m on a road trip.”

Luke’s eyebrows rose. “By yourself?”

The woman chuckled. “Don’t sound so surprised. Hasn’t your mother taught you that women rule the world?”

Luke’s gaze fell to the ground awkwardly. “Uh, well, I guess not. I mean - my mom died after I was born.”

Talk about a bomb to blow the conversation to smithereens.

“Oh,” the woman said, her voice not hiding her shock. “I’m sorry.”

He looked back up at her and shook his head. “No, no, I mean - it was a long time ago. And I never knew her.”

The woman was quiet for a long moment. “Then there’s even more reason to feel the loss,” she said. “In fact - let me buy you a drink-”

“You don’t have to do that,” Luke interjected even as the woman motioned for the bartender. “I don’t even know your name-”

“It’s your birthday, right?” she asked, and Luke felt a jolt of surprise. _How-?_ She offered him an apologetic smile. “Your friend over there was so loud when he was trying to sing happy birthday earlier. He was terribly off-key.”

So it seemed the woman who had been being watched had been a watcher herself. Interesting.

Luke was trying not to feel _too_ encouraged by that fact.

After the bartender brought him a beer, the woman raised her glass to him. “To your mother,” she said, “for bringing a fine young man into this world.”

He felt his cheeks burn as he clinked the bottle against her glass.

“And my name is Ahsoka,” the woman said as she brought the glass to her lips.

“I’m Luke,” he said, and Ahsoka smiled to herself. Luke nearly groaned as he realized. “Let me guess. You already knew that.”

“Hard not to hear a guy who’s belting out your name just across the room,” she said.

“I shouldn’t take him out anywhere,” Luke said, shaking his head, and Ahsoka laughed. He couldn’t help smiling in response: she had a bright, warm laugh. It suited her perfectly.

“What, is he a pet of yours or something?”

“No, I have a Wookiee named Chewie at home, and he’s a handful enough.”

Ahsoka asked to see pictures, and Luke obliged by showing her pictures of his dog while trying not to feel too self-conscious. Why would a woman like her indulge him with wanting to see pictures of a silly dog?

Ahsoka cooed as she swiped through the pictures. “Oh, I wish I could have a dog,” she said, her tone mournful as she handed him back his smartphone.

“Why can’t you?” he asked, genuinely curious.

Ahsoka’s mouth twisted. “I’m in the service,” she said. “Lots of inconvenient traveling. It would be a lonely life for any pet I had.”

“Oh.” Luke found himself oddly disappointed. He supposed he was still immature enough to think that this meeting meant something - that, somehow, he might see her beyond this night at a dank bar. But she was just a traveler through his life. There one minute, gone the next, like a shooting star or a comet streaking across the sky. “That’s too bad.”

Ahsoka murmured a “mm” of sound before taking a sip from her drink. It seemed a melancholy had befallen her as well, though he couldn’t exactly sense why.

“It’s not an easy job,” she said after another moment of quiet, “but I’m doing good work. And that’s enough for me.”

Luke felt a jab of envy. When would _he_ feel that way about something? “I wish I had something like that,” he admitted. “I mean, something to be passionate about. Something to make me feel moved.”

A smile flashed across Ahsoka’s face. “Ever think of trying a motorcycle?”

At first Luke thought she was kidding - but her face was all sincerity. “Me? I don’t know. I always thought I might be a pilot someday, but I don’t know if I could handle a motorcycle.”

“You should give it a try,” she said placidly. “I have a Fulcrum. It got me all the way here when I was just in Dagobah County last night.”

A breath of air rushed out of Luke. “ _Seriously_?”

Ahsoka chuckled. “Something tells me you need to stop underestimating the women in your life.”

Luke might have taken that as another jab, a strike against his immaturity, but he couldn’t help feeling a tiny stab of excitement at the words that included her in his sphere as “a woman in his life.”

“My friend Han has a Falcon,” he said, “but I’ve never tried it.”

Ahsoka’s eyes sparked with interest. “Has he ever done the Kessel Run?”

“Yeah, just this past summer. He said it was the most alive he’s ever felt.”

Ahsoka’s face seemed to glow. “It’s definitely quite the ride. If you ever get into bikes, you should definitely think of giving it a try yourself.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” he said, taking the moment to sip his beer, before noticing Ahsoka’s gaze had moved past him.

“Seems like your friends are missing you,” she said, and Luke glanced back to see Han and the rest of the auto gang failing at being sneaky about watching his progress with Ahsoka. Han even gave him a thumbs-up.

Luke felt another urge to cringe. “Sorry about them,” he said. “They, uh, they’re just glad to see me talking to a girl - I mean, uh, a woman.”

“Oh?” Ahsoka’s interest again sounded piqued. “Why is that?”

“I, uh, just got out of a pretty heavy relationship,” he said, “and it was...messy.”

Ahsoka was quiet for a long moment before murmuring, “Oh, I see.”

“It wasn’t anything wrong with her,” he went on, feeling another verbal vomit spree coming on but doing nothing to stop it. “It’s just - I wasn’t enough, I guess.”

“What do you mean you weren’t enough?” she asked.

Luke sighed, and it didn’t help matters that he felt like he was letting the alcohol do the talking in this case. “I’m never enough, no matter what I do. I disappoint my dad, my sister thinks I’m a loser, Mara said I couldn’t be the one for her; it’s endless.”

This time, Ahsoka didn’t answer right away but instead placed her hand over one of Luke’s own. “Forget about other people. What do _you_ think about yourself?”

Luke looked down at her hand covering his, and a breath whooshed out of him. “I’m just doing my best to figure out who I am.”

Ahsoka’s eyes warmed. “Then that’s enough, don’t you think?”

As she went to move her hand away, he actually took the initiative to grasp her hand and bring it to his lips. He brushed a soft kiss against her skin. “I’m just a stupid kid,” he murmured, “and there’s a lot I don’t know, but - I think I like you, Ahsoka.”

Luke thought she might laugh at him, say that he was just drunk, but he found that she was staring at him intently, as if measuring every word in her mind.

She brought her hand to his face, lightly tracing his cheek. “Maybe in a few years we’ll talk,” Ahsoka said softly, “and we’ll see if you feel the same way.”

Then her hand was gone, and Luke watched her drain the last dregs in her glass.

“Ahsoka-”

“You’re a good kid, Luke,” she said, “and I’m sure you’ll be a great man.”

The next moment, she had his hand in hers, a pen scribbling over his skin. “Give me a call sometime and we’ll catch up.”

And the next morning, when Luke woke up with a hangover, the smeared ink on his hand would make him recall the night before - and he would smile to himself.

Maybe it was a beginning, or maybe it was an ending, but it was still more sweet than bitter in his memory.


End file.
